Independence Day

thank you for the sign of life. I look forward to reading your comments on
my little Spinelli-inspired essay.

Maybe we can meet and discuss over a cup of tea in Nairobi during
the WSF?

You seem to apologise for what you wrote eight years ago about markets and
politics. Don't. I think you were on the right track already then.

Besides, considering that you are in your early thirties, eight years may seem a longer time to you than to me, who is in my late fifties.

In the past, I used to take a negative stand to the whole EU project,
which seemed a very natural thing to do for a Finnish leftist, but the French NON in May
2005 forced me to go deeper and seek after the original ideas. I learned
that those ideas had grown out of the experience of the two European world
wars of the last century - that the EU is, essentially, a peace
project.

Unfortunately, the original project has not been completed, and all too
often capitalist economism and Western imperialism have been allowed to replace
the original content.

Thus the recent decision of Tony Blair and his associates to renew and
modernise the British nuclear arsenal - and of Jacques Chirac & Co to maintain and modernise the force de frappe - reveal the persistence of imperialistic and racist
attitudes among the European political leaders. They continue to reserve
for themselves the option to "exterminate all the brutes" (Joseph Conrad).

Unfortunately we, the peoples, are co-responsible for the criminal deeds
of our leaders.

What we need in the coming months and years is a restauration and
innovative continuation of the Spinelli Project from the 1980ies. Whether
Attac can play a leading role in that necessary process remains to be
seen. However, the existing political parties are (voluntary)
prisoners of their respective national states. They are not capable of
initiating the necessary transformation of the international system; they
are indeed the bearers of the system that must be transformed. Therefore,
transnational movements of citizens - like Attac - will have to play key
roles.

Today Finland celebrates its 89th year of Independence. That might be one
of the reasons why I have bothered you with these very general remarks.

Attac Europe is re-inventing the wheel

[From now on, I will put all my English blog-entries into the category 'World Social Forum'. ]

In these days Attac Europe meets in Catania, Sicily, in order to discuss, among other things, an alternative constitutional treaty for the European Union. But that alternative already exists, althought it needs, of course, to be updated to the internet age. The alternative European Constitution is the
treaty of Spinelli and the European Parliament
from 1984.

Below, two further email messages which I have sent to the list of the European Attacs.

***

Dear Catania-goers,

for a number of reasons, it would be a serious mistake to include a
"copyright on the personal genetic code" in a constitution, or
constitutional treaty.

As soon as the genetical code is copyrighted, it becomes a tradable
commodity. This is the meaning of copyright. It is a tradable right. In
the case of the genetical code, the very concept of the copyright creates
a market for the selling and buying of it. You must have noted that some
persons are even willing to, or forced to, sell one of their personal
kidneys. How much easier is it not to sell one's personal genetical code
for money!

Those who propose a "copyright on the personal genetic code" could soon
end up achieving precisely the contrary to what they want. I assume that
they want to keep the personal genetical code sacrosanct, which is close
to saying that it should not be subsumed under Capitalism. However, theintroduction of the concept of copyright on the genetic code into our
political constitution would make the door wide open to the invasion of
Capitalism into our genetical constitution.
Therefore, I hope that you will agree to drop the "copyright on the
personal genetic code" from the envisaged "Ten Principles of a Democratic
Europe" of Attac.

All the best,
- Mikael

>

***

Dear Catania-goers, once more

the material you have sent out is already quite impressive. I am a bit
disappointed, though, to see that you have not included the comments which
I sent some days ago under the title "Restore Spinelli's Treaty", because
those comments were written exprès for the debate within the movement
Attac before the Catania-meeting.

In my notes, I said that the movement Attac is re-inventing the wheel.
That technological parallell was actually not very appropriate, because
once a technical invention is made it stays, while in the politics, we
probably always will have to re-invent old ideas and solutions (and alas,
old problems, too).

Furthermore, there is the risk that we completely lose sight of the
valuable ideas that were invented by our predecessors.

This is what has happened, to an inadmissible degree, with Spinelli, the legacy from Ventotene, and the "Draft Treaty Establishing the European
Union" that was adopted by the European parliament 1984.

But the history of the EU does not start with Schuman, Monnet, de Gasperi
and Adenauer. It starts somewhere else. If you dig a little bit deeper you
may even re-discover yourself in the mirror of that history.
I sincerely wish you a good meeting in Catania,